This invention pertains to a method for placing linerless repositionable sheets directly onto advertising signatures and to an apparatus useful for carrying out the method.
An advertising signature is an insert that is placed in a magazine and comprises a plurality of pages, typically rectangular pieces of paper having advertising printed thereon and being folded over to form a registration edge. When placed in a magazine, the advertising signature is bound to the other magazine pages along the registration edge.
To further some of the goals of advertising, including advertiser name retention and promotion of product sales, advertising signatures have been provided with repositionable labels that contain information such as the name and telephone number of the advertiser or a coupon for a price discount. The labels are repositionable so that they can be removed from the advertising signature and adhered at another location (for example, a desk or refrigerator) to remind the reader to call the advertiser or to use the coupon at a later date.
Many of the labels that have been placed on advertising signatures have a repositionable pressure sensitive adhesive (RPSA) coated over the whole backside of the label. Labels that have a RPSA coated over their whole backside are typically carried on a liner before being adhered to an advertising signature. The labels on the liner are supplied to an apparatus which separates the label from the liner and adheres the label to an advertising signature. The following patents disclose methods and apparatus for separating labels from a liner so that the labels can be subsequently adhered to a substrate: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,943,337; 4,685,982; 4,612,079; 4,566,933; 4,475,978; 4,473,429; 4,390,386; 4,337,108; 4,314,869; 4,261,788; 4,255,220; 4,210,484; 4,201,621; 4,124,429; 4,024,011; 4,046,613; 3,984,277; 3,888,725; 3,885,705; 3,806,395; and 3,751,324. In the methods and apparatus disclosed in these patents, the label is separated from the liner by a peeler bar, and the label is subsequently adhered to a substrate (that could be an advertising signature), typically, by a blast of air; see e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,685,982, 4,612,079, 4,475,978, and 4,390,386. The liner, which previously supported the label, often is rewound on a take-up reel and is subsequently discarded as waste. These methods and apparatus have drawbacks in that they generate waste in the form of a useless liner, require additional equipment on the apparatus to remove the label and store the liner, for example, a peeler bar and take-up reel, and use excess quantities of adhesive by having the whole backside of the label coated with a RPSA.
In another approach to promote an advertisement in an advertising signature, a backer card is employed to secure a repositionable, information-containing sheet to an advertising signature. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,842,303. The backer card has a registration edge which is aligned with the registration edge of the advertising signature. The repositionable sheet of paper has a narrow band of RPSA coated on one surface adjacent to an edge of the repositionable sheet. The repositionable sheet is adhered along the registration edge of the backer card by the narrow band of RPSA. The combination backer card and repositionable sheet is secured to an advertising signature by gluing the backer card to the advertising signature using, for example, a tipping machine.
Although the approach disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,842,303 employs an information-containing sheet which only uses a narrow band of RPSA, it too has a number of drawbacks. One drawback is the need to employ a backer card to secure the repositionable sheet to an advertising signature. Another drawback is the need for a number of additional process steps to assemble the combination backer card/repositionable sheet before it is attached to an advertising signature. The additional process steps that have been used include: laminating the adhesive bearing sheet and backer card together in registry; cutting the laminated webs to a master sheet size (typically, 8.5 by 12 inches); stacking the cut master sheets; jogging the master sheets; cutting them into conventional sizes (for example, 4 inches by 6 inches); stacking the cut laminated sheets; and then shipping them to an inserter for attachment to an advertising signature.
To date it is believed that manual methods are the only publicly known methods for directly applying linerless repositionable sheets directly onto advertising signatures.
The present invention provides a new method and apparatus for applying repositionable sheets directly to an advertising signature.
The new method comprises the steps of:
(a) providing an advertising signature;
(b) providing a linerless repositionable sheet that has a first side partially coated with a repositionable pressure sensitive adhesive;
(c) adhering the linerless repositionable sheet directly to the advertising signature with an apparatus that has a sheet application mechanism, the sheet application mechanism adhering the linerless repositionable sheet to the advertising signature such that the first side of the linerless repositionable sheet is juxtaposed against the advertising signature; and
(d) causing the advertising signature having the repositionable sheet adhered directly thereto to exit the apparatus.
The method of the invention can be carried out using the apparatus of the invention which in brief summary comprises:
(a) a cutting mechanism;
(b) a transport for moving an elongated linerless sheeting bearing an adhesive to the cutting mechanism;
(c) a mechanism capable of adhering a cut sheet bearing an adhesive to a substrate;
wherein the cutting mechanism cuts the elongated linerless sheeting into a first and second cut sheets such that no residual elongated linerless sheeting exits the apparatus after the elongated linerless sheeting has been cut.
The method and apparatus of the invention are advantageous in that repositionable sheets now can be rapidly placed on advertising signatures without using excess amounts of adhesive and a liner that is subsequently disposed of as waste. The prior art methods used slow manual methods, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,842,303 col. 1, 11. 22-40, employed a peeler bar to remove repositionable labels from a liner, see e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 4,475,978, or used a backer card to secure a repositionable sheet to an advertising signature, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,842,303 cols. 3-6. The invention thus provides a faster, more efficient method for applying repositionable sheets directly to advertising signatures without generating excess waste.
The above and other advantages of the invention are more fully shown and described in the drawings and detailed description of this invention, where like reference numerals are used to represent similar parts. It is to be understood, however, that the description and drawings are for the purposes of illustration only and should not be read in a manner that would unduly limit the scope of this invention.